We are thrilled to renew our partnership with Community Foundation Sonoma County and their iREAD cohort for 2019! This program is strongly aligned with our own mission, especially regarding the importance of early literacy and support of language-rich environments for young children. The research shows that children growing up in low-income families are exposed to less verbally rich home environments and are less likely to attend preschool, creating a ‘word gap’ of millions of words between them and their more affluent peers before they’ve even entered kindergarten.

Reading aloud to children from day one is the single most important thing a parent can do to help a child enter kindergarten ready to succeed. In Sonoma County, however, only 57% of parents read to their children every day. It is critical that we equip parents with the knowledge and tools they need to be effective role models and teachers, and remove the obstacles—real or perceived—to engaging their children in reading. The Free Bookmobile will be funded in 2019 to reach out to thousands of families of young children to make sure they have modern, engaging books to read together, including visits to AVANCE Parenting Classes and Pasitos Playgroups.

As a parent or family member you can:

READ TO YOUR CHILD EVERY DAY. Just fifteen minutes a day makes a huge difference in your child’s language development, and helps them be ready to learn in school.

READ FROM DAY ONE. The first eight months of a baby’s life is a peak period for language development.

READ IN ANY LANGUAGE–Or use the book to tell a story in your home language.